Virtual Selling

20Telephone Prospecting

Back in January while delivering a two-day Fanatical Prospecting Bootcamp for 200 healthcare sales professionals, we ran live telephone prospecting blocks. The exercise was simple. I asked them to make 15 outbound dials in 15 minutes with the goal of setting one appointment.

Prior to the event, we'd asked the company's leadership team to give each sales professional a list of targeted prospects and let them know that we would be running live phone blocks at the event. We did not want this to be a surprise.

Following a training module on the Five-Step Telephone Prospecting Framework, I gave the instructions. “Grab your phones. You have 15 minutes to make 15 dials and set one appointment. Go!”

Stunned. That was the look on the faces staring back at me.

Stunned as in, “Are you shitting me?” stunned.

Stunned as in, “This has got to be a joke,” stunned.

Stunned as in, “You're not really serious,” stunned.

Stunned as in, “You mean, you actually want us to call people?” stunned.

A hand went up. “Yes?” I asked.

“Um, Jeb, I don't think you understand. Nobody answers the phone in the medical industry. The only way to prospect is face-to-face.” There was a collective nod of the heads. The room erupted in pushback and more arguments for why making these calls was a mistake and a waste of time.

The thing is, I'm unmovable. Teflon. No excuses stick. Plus, I had the blessing of the leadership team to push the sales reps to make the calls. The company's leaders were ...